Monday, January 30, 2012

Age
has been the perfect fire extinguisher for flaming youth.; Beware of the naked man who offers you his
shirt.; A fallen lighthouse is more
dangerous than a reef. ****

India has such a wide and varied culture that it is too
difficult to understand the occurrences and their implications in other States. Five States go to Polls – Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,
Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand and campaigning is in full swing - the stage and mood is almost that of a mini general
election. The GoldenTemple known as Harmandir Sahib, is located in the
city of Amritsar
where the poll waves are hot. The strokeless
wonder on debut [remember the way he was playing when Lloyd’s West Indies
toured India immediately after their defeat in WC 1983] who exploded to Sixer
Sidhu by 1987 WC is moving door to door campaigning for the contestant at
Amritsar East Constituency is his wife Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu.

The
variance is there to be seen and observed – of the Five States – the elections
at Manipur is over on Jan 28 (single phase); Punjab & Uttarakhand go to
polls today; it would March 3 at Goa – whereas in Uttar Pradesh it will be 7
phase affair starting on Feb 8th and ending on 3rd of
March – the fate of political parties would be known after March 6, 2012, which
is day of counting of votes.

Historically,
Punjabi voters have sought change every five years. It has been rotation of power between the Congress and the Akali Dal. In
2007, the Akali Dal was given the baton and now it appears to be the turn of
the Congress. More so because there is a third political front, a breakaway
faction led by a cousin of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal — Manpreet
Singh Badal, who was Finance Minister in the Akali Dal government till some
time ago. Anti-incumbency factor had
played havoc to the fortunes of many ruling parties in different State and this
appears to be consistent in Punjab from
1967. Manpreet Badal’s Punjab People’s
Party (PPP)-led Sanjha Morcha is contesting all the 117 seats in the state. He
himself is contesting from two assembly seats – Gidderbaha and Maur. The leaders of Akali Dal, the father-son duo – Prakash Singh and Sukhbir
Singh Badal – are facing several
corruption accusations. They are accused of having built big stakes in the
transport, liquor and sand mining businesses during the past five years when
they ruled the state. They are accused of monopolising the state’s cable
distribution network. And two weeks ago, Sukhbir Singh Badal, also known as CEO
of the Punjab government, was accused of
seeking a Rs 1 crore bribe from a senior IAS officer. If you feel that the
allegations and actions are more or less similar in your State also – it is
your own reading !!!

Elsewhere
on the hills of Manipur – the assurance of EC for a peaceful poll came a
cropper – high turnout @ 82% is reported but worrying is the news of killing of
7 persons including a CRPF jawan and four poll officials. It is reported that a
suspected NSCN(IM) militant entered a booth at Thampi polling station in
Chandel constituency and there were
killings inside the booth. Chief
minister Okram Ibobi Singh, is eyeing a third term in office in Manipur.

At
Uttarakhand 63 lakh electorate is to decide the fate of 788 candidates in 70
assembly constituencies. Top state
leaders, including chief minister B C Khanduri from Kotdwar, former chief
minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank from Doiwala, leader of opposition Harak
Singh Rawat from Rudraprayag and PCC chief Yashpal Arya from Baajpur seats will
try their luck at the polls.

Those
who follow Indian Politics keenly would remember that filing of candidates with
same / similar sounding names, filing of nomination by dissidents, filing by
large no. of candidates have all plagued conduct of elections and when there
are larger no. of candidates in the fray, the printing, mapping, folding and
placing the ballot sheets caused big trouble to EC Officials. Now, the elections are through Electronic
voting machines (EVM) – and in a recent ruling Delhi High Court noted that even
though they are not tamperproof, EVMs are the backbone of our election process.
Certainly reverting to paper ballots is
going to cost the Nation a fortune making the process more cumbersome and tedious. In the
recent past, Election Commission has assumed control and generally are impartial
in conducting the largest voting exercise in the world with fairness.

So
from a month now, there could be new rulers !!

**** - some Sidhuisms !!! – one liners from the
mouth of colourful Navjot Singh Sidhu

Friday, January 27, 2012

It
is quipped that if you are to watch the finals, you would better press the mute
button first. The Australian Women’s
Finals is touted as ‘battle of grunters”

At
Adelaide,
Michael Clarke set up an improbable 500 as the target for the struggling
Indians and there is little to write about.
At Melbourne,
the Tournament is heading for a close finish.
If you can recall last year it was Novak Djokovic, Kim Clijsters, Bob
Bryan & Mike Bryan – who won the title in Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles
and Mens Doubles last year.

The
finalists in the woman are spotted and it was reported that she has been practising her victory dance moves, just
in case. She has not dropped a set yet
and has dropped only 12 games so far in the tournament. She is as mindful as
anyone of what lies ahead and if she
were to win, she is like to unveil a few dance moves - that is
Victoria Azarenka, the girl from Belarus who is to meet Russian
beauty Maria Sharpova in the ‘battle of
grunters”. Sharapova will play her sixth
Grand Slam final, Azarenka her first.

There
are repots that decibel counters set up at Melbourne Park this week have
measured Azarenka's wail at 91.4, while Sharapova is understood to have reached
98. At her peak, the Russian has been recorded at an ear-splitting 105.

If
you are wondering what this all about, ‘grunting’ in tennis refers to the loud
noise, sometimes described as "shrieking" or "screaming", made
by some players during their strokes. It is prominent in women's tennis but
also exists in men's tennis. Monica Seles and Jimmy Connors are often credited
with starting the "grunt" in tennis in the female and male games
respectively. The other practitioners of
the art includes Serenas, Sharpova, Dementieva, Azarenka, Nadal and Djokovic.

Azarenka
was the first to reach the Finals defeating 11th seed Kim Clijsters
reaching her first career Grand Slam final. Sharapova, the 2008 champion,
joined Azarenka in the final after a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over No. 2 seed
Petra Kvitova of the Czech
Republic. It was a baseline battle that
didn’t necessarily have the contrast in styles that will make for compelling
tennis.

Rafael
Nadal defeated Roger Federer and would
play the winner of rematch of last year’s finals – Novak Djokovic playing Andy
Murray. The folks have been friends for
more than 14 years now and have played head on each other not many a times.
In their 10 grandslam matches, Nadal has won 8 times and won in four
sets covering the baseline with
incredible speed and hitting forehand winners from almost impossible angles. They have played more times and have won 26 majors between them.

Grunters
or tigerperches are fishes in the family Terapontidae. They are found in shallow coastal waters in
the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, where
they live in saltwater, brackish and freshwater habitats. When caught, grunters
make the characteristic grunting sounds that give them their name.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

In the biggest democracy – 5 states are
to go to polls. In India, we have a quasi Federal
Government – elected officials at the National, State and local levels – the Head
of the Govt., the Prime Minister as also the Chief Minister gets elected by the
Majority party. Soon, we will have new Chief Ministers (or the
earlier ones with new mandate) in Goa, Manipur, Punjab,
Uttrakhand and Uttar Pradesh

There are lots of comments on the EC
order of suitably covering the statues of elephants and statues of Ms Mayawati
constructed in public places at government expenses. The Model Code of Conduct
for Political Parties and Candidates envisages providing a level playing field
for all political parties and candidates at an election. There are instructions that images &
photos of CM / PM / Ministers etc., are not to be displayed in Govt building
and premises as that could potentially disturb the level playing field. Though one tends to ask whether other things –
say cycles would be so covered ? It
remains a fact that these statues of elephants are not symbolic of the mammoth mammals
of genre – Elephas & Loxodonta but are sought to depict the election symbol
of BSP – erected in public places incurring huge expenditure. The EC has
clarified that continued display at public places would be violative of the spirit of the Model Code.

India has such wide
and culture that people at one State may not fully understand the traits of another State. Manipur, in North Eastern India has Imphal as
its capital. It is bounded by Nagaland, Mizoram, Assam
and borders Burma
to the east. There are many ethnic groups and Manipuri
(Meiteilon) is the lingua franca of the State. Earlier foreigners entering Manipur were
required to possess Restricted Area Permit, which has been relaxed now. Manipur has river basins and good water
resources. The Manipur river basin has
eight major rivers: the Manipur, Imphal, Iril, Nambul, Sekmai, Chakpi, Thoubal
and Khuga. All these rivers originate from the surrounding hills. Besides the other religions practiced,
Gaudiya Vaishnavism is also predominant.
It is a religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

In the 2007 Elections, INC won 30 of the
60 seats. For the first time, the
62-year old Election Commission has ordered the photographing of all voters of
Manipur on January 28, when the State goes to the polls, in order to prevent
rigging and impersonation. Manipur has
an electorate of 16,77,270 spread over 60 constituencies. The Polling is to take place on Jan 28, 2012
and a total of 279 candidates are in the fray. The main parties who have put up candidates
in the polls are Congress (60), Trinamool Congress (48), Manipur State Congress
Party (31), CPI (24), NCP (22), BJP (19) and Manipur People's Party (14) among
others.

As the State goes to Poll – it appears
that there is no dearth of money at Manipur as seen from the assets declared by
various contestants. It is reported that
a total of 33 millionaires are in the fray.
Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s assets jumped to a whopping 1,079
percent from Rs 6 lakhs in 2007 to Rs 71 lakhs this year. Still, there are feelings that this does not
appropriately reflect his wealth as he is said to possess properties in places
like Goa, Bangalore
and Gurgaon. Congressman and the state’s
Information and Tourism Minister TN Haokip has made the biggest leap during his
recent five-year stint. His property jumped from a paltry Rs 29.7 lakh to a
whopping Rs 9.77 crore in 2012.

Trinamool Congress’s Khagda
Bahadur claims to be penniless.

There are further reports that the two main contenders for Khurai Assembly seat
are the same and the only difference is they have switched sides this time.
Nothing uncommon in the volatile politics of Manipur but will it bring a change
of fortune? Here, there is a straight fight between sitting MLA
N Bijoy Singh of ruling Congress and Ningthoujam Bihari Singh of opposition
Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP). The
bitter political rivals have swapped sides.
Meantime, the statement of Union home secretary RK Singh, that Indian
insurgent groups based in the neighbouring country were planning to create
disturbances in the coming elections in Manipur, is a matter of grave concern. The home secretary raised the issue at the
17th national level meeting between the two countries at Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar. To
trace the recipients of arms smuggled into India,
Singh requested Myanmar to
share interrogation reports of arms smugglers arrested by Myanmar
security forces.

It is the responsibility of the Govt to suppress
such forces and ensure a free and fair polling, which only will do good to the
Nation.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Economics is difficult to understand and strange are the ways of
the Press when it comes to publishing it in their own perspective ! The Third quarter Monetary Policy of Reserve
Bank of India
is being hotly debated upon. Though I do
not understand it in is depth, we for sure know that it is to impact us in the
months to come, especially on the financial side.

Monetary policy is the process by which the monetary authority of a
country controls the supply of money, often targeting a rate of interestfor the
purpose of promoting economic growth and stability. In India,
it is done by Reserve Bank of India. The official goals usually include relatively
stable prices and low unemployment. Monetary theory provides insight into how
to craft optimal monetary policy. It could be by increasing the total supply of
money or constricting other things.

You know this condition as also the term – but perhaps may not
relate them with ease. In Economics,
Inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an
economy over a period of time. A chief
measure of price inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage
change in a general price index (normally the Consumer Price Index) over
time. To put it simply ““inflation means that your money won’t
buy as much today as you could yesterday. ”

RBI
wanted the Govt to deregulate diesel prices in order to contain the trade
deficit, which is expected to widen to $160 billion during the current fiscal. The petrol prices are market-linked, the
government decides the rates of LPG, kerosene and diesel, which usually results
in a large budgetary expenditure on subsidies.
Largely the response for the 3rd Quarter review of Monetary
policy appears to be not so welcome.
As RBI wants to put is, the Annual Policy for 2011-12 is
set in conditions significantly different from those a year ago. Last year’s
policy was made in an environment of incipient domestic recovery and
uncertainty about the state of the global economy. While signs of inflation were
visible, they were driven primarily by food items. Nonetheless, there was a
clear risk of food price pressures spilling over into more generalised
inflation, as the recovery consolidated and domestic resource utilisation rose
to levels which stretched capacities. Throughout last year, the goal of
monetary policy was to nurture the recovery in the face of persistent global
uncertainty, while trying to contain the spill-over of supply side inflation.

This suggests growth will slow down even more if investment
activity, that has already slowed significantly , stays depressed. The signs
are ominous. Corporate investment in new projects fell sharply on a sequential
basis during the second quarter of 2011-12 . The resultant impact on growth
could have been mitigated had government stepped in with higher capital
spending. The Govt. would struggle as
there is likely to be a mounting revenue deficit and constrain the capacity for
capital spending.

First Post reports that 79 is the number of times the RBI mentions
“inflation” in the press release and in contrast, “growth” is mentioned 68 times (10
times in reference to global, not local, growth). – this is sought to be
exhibited as a clue on where the focus of RBI lies !!

In his statement, RBI Governor D Subbarao acknowledged that
declining food prices are a seasonal trend and unlikely to last. The sharp
decline in food prices in the past few weeks could be attributed to sharp
declines in onion, potato and vegetable prices, which account for less than 3
percent of the WPI. Fuel inflation came in at a high 14.9 percent
in December. Currently, oil marketing companies have refrained from hiking fuel
prices because of upcoming state assembly elections and the prices could be
hiked immediately after the elections. When the government’s fiscal deficit (the gap
between government revenues and expenditure) widens, it has to resort to
borrowings from the capital markets, which reduces the level of funds for the
private sector and increases the cost of capital as well.

The expectation of RBI is fall in inflation to 7% by March from the
7.47$ present and there may not be much easing of monetary policy. The reduction in CRR by 50 bps to 5.5% is
not greatly welcomed though; the Repo and Reverse Repo remain unchanged. The interpretation of the monetary policy is
sought to be represented as no reining of inflation but squeezing of demand
which could be painful for the growth.

At Adelaide, Australians amassed runs and pushed India to the brink – now another defeat threat
looms large and India
will have to score 400+ to avoid a follow-on and an Innings defeat. If only the famed batting line up battles at
least once, we should be through – remember the batting line up has remained
unchanged despite the reverses and there is some gloom lit large.

At Melbourne, the Australian
Open is on and the Semi line up in women is set-up, somewhat not on expected
lines. Kim Clijsters battled through searing heat and
an ongoing ankle injury to reach the semi-finals with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over
Dane Caroline Wozniacki. She meets Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who
fought back to defeat Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7 (0-7) 6-0 6-2. one cannot hazard any guess on whether the
injury torn Clijsters would last through, though she is displaying fine form.

On the
other half, there were not many surprises as Second seed Petra Kvitova and
fourth seed Maria Sharapova have reached their appointed positions. The dream run of Ekaterina Makarova ended with Maria Sharapova defeating her in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 this morning. The unseeded Makarova, had earlier bundled out
an erratic Serena Williams in straight
sets on Monday. Kvitova meanwhile defeated 24-year-old opponent Sara Errani,
ranked No.48- it was a battle of contrasting heights as Errani, only 164cm
herself, played the 182cm opponent Petra Kvitova.

In the QF
earlier Kim Clijsters sent packing the top seed Caroline Wozniacki. Third seed Victoria Azarenka has broken
through the brick wall that is Agnieszka Radwanska to progress to the
semifinals of a major for just the second time in her career. Azarenka
fought back from a set behind after getting whitewashed in the tiebreak to
dominate the next two sets, running away with a 6-7(0) 6-2 6-0 win.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

She is - Ekaterina
Valeryevna Makarova 23 years of age with career ranking of 56 recently. She is creating waves in Australian Open - In the 2nd round she defeated #25 seed Kaia
Kanepi 6-4, 6-2. In the 3rd round she defeated #7 seed Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7),
6-1. In the Round of 16 she achieved the
biggest win of her career when she defeated #12 seed and 13-time Grand Slam
champion Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the first Grand Slam
Quarterfinal of her career where she will face #4 seed and former champion
Maria Sharapova.

So Russians are
destroying Americans, at least in Australia !! - It was a straight
set defeat handed over to the flamboyant Serena Williams. The five-time Australian Open champion was
expected to make light work of Russia's
Makarova but found herself on the wrong end of an upset as the heat seemed to
sap her energy. Williams had won her
last 17 matches at MelbournePark, lasting losing to
Jelena Jankovic in 2008, but couldn't get going and made 37 unforced errors on
her way to a disappointing defeat.

The 56th-ranked
Makarova will now face compatriot Maria Sharapova in her first Grand Slam
quarter-final and admitted she was happy just to have got the better of
Williams. Williams came into the
tournament with a badly-injured left ankle that forced her to pull out of a
warmup tournament in Brisbane
two weeks ago. On Monday, she appeared to be moving well, but made 37 unforced
errors and had her service broken while trying to stay in the match.

In the Men’s section,
Japanese Kei Nishikori notched another mark by becoming the first Japanese man to reach the
quarterfinals of the Australian Open since the Open Era began in 1968 with an
exhausting 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over former finalist Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga of France.

Heard of Cameroon and its star player Roger
Milla ? As India
kept losing – it is 7 tests in a row Overseas now, one thought there could be a
major shake up. Here is something interesting on what teams do to get the
winning streak away from practicing, strategizing and et al. Read
my earlier post on this : http://sampspeak.blogspot.com/2012/01/cameroon-relies-on-juju-what-will.html

Adelaide
is the capital city of South Australia
and the fifth-largest city in Australia.
Adelaide is a
coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St Vincent. Port Adelaide is a suburb of Adelaide
lying about 14 kilometres northwest of the City of Adelaide. It lies within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and is the main port for the city of
Adelaide.
The city was founded in 1836 and was planned as the capital for British
province in Australia;
named after Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. Princess Adelaide of
Saxe-Meiningen (Adelaide Amelia Louise Theresa Caroline; 1792 – 1849) was
the queen consort of the United Kingdom
and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom.
Going by our practice, we should be organizing rallies for changing the name of
this place in to some local sounding name, if this were to be in India. Adelaide is noted for its
many festivals and sporting events, its food, wine and culture, its long
beachfronts, and its large defence and manufacturing sectors. It ranks highly
in terms of liveability, being listed in the Top 10 of The Economist's World's
Most Liveable Cities index in 2010.

One thing that flummoxes me often is why the cricket
grounds are not of uniform size and shape ? The Adelaide Oval
is one of cricket's most picturesque Test venues. The ground opened in 1873
amid bitter local disputes over boundaries and money. In 1884-85 it
staged its first Test. . In 1932-33, the Bodyline affair reached its nadir at
The Oval when Bill Woodfull and Bert Oldfield were struck, and on the third day
mounted police patrolled to keep the 50, 962 spectators in order. The
ground is a true oval, which makes straight sixes a rarity but ones square of
the wicket more common.

This morning Australia won the toss in
supposedly batsman-friendly Adelaide Oval pitch. India plays
almost the same team – Ashwin coming in for Vinay kumar and Saha made to play
for the banned Dhoni. For a change, Australians are 98/3 at lunch.
Yes they have lost 3 wickets and two of them to Ashwin. For Aussie, the
offspinner Nathan Lyon who was part of groundstaff att he venue last
summer is playing; Mitchell Starc was named 12th man.

The last time he played at Adelaide,
Virender Sehwag was on a roll – much water has flowed since. India
surrendered meekly at Perth
and not many heads are going to roll – Dhoni is out by force and not by any
choice. Prasanna Wriddhiman Saha will
fill his boot – but whether he will allow the commentator to pronounce him
fully remains to be seen ! Loss after
loss – more humiliation, folding without fight – what will make the dressing
room come out of feel good factor – there are Managers, Coaches and more out
there – the main problem appears to be players also returning too soon rather
than be out in the middle. Vice-captain
Virender Sehwag,whose position in the team
itself has become debatable is going to lead in the Final Test – more than
a bit confused on what would be his role.
Will it be assertive, hard grind, raising the morale or salvaging pride
by playing out for a draw at least.

A couple of days back, there was a report on whether a section is too harsh on VVS Laxman – no doubt
he had played some good knocks but should anybody be allowed to take their
place for granted and that should apply to all Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Sachin,
Laxman, Kohli, Dhoni and anyone else – if one fails in 4 innings, he should not
be a certainty in the next test. Some may
tend to ask whether Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwari or somebody
else would have done better – for sure if they had performed similarly, they
would not have played at Perth and no questions
of Adelaide !

A legend need not be as big as the other….. in 1990 FIFA at Italy, there
was a player from a lesser known country who caught eveybody’s attention by the
goal scored and the jiggle after that – that was Roger Milla. Albert Roger Mooh Miller, played for Cameroon as a striker and soon
became a major star – he achieved this stardom at 38 years of age by which most
would have retired. Against Columbia he scored a goal from far helping Cameroon to
reach Quarter Finals. His trademark
celebration was that of running to corner flag and dance.

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon
is a country in west Central Africa; bordered by Nigeria,
Chad, Congo and
more. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural
diversity. Football spellbinds the
Nation and they are Africa’s most successful
side, having qualified for FIFA World
Cup six times. They have also won four
Africa Cup of Nations titles.

Football fans over there are gearing up for the African Cup of
Nations, held every two years. There is
an interesting BBC report on the
continued use of supposedly magic charms by players and officials in Cameroon. In Cameroon, football is favourite
sport attracting huge crowds. It is not
the game, the players, the goal alone – behind the scenes marabouts - or juju men - also
claim credit. Armed, they say, with
supernatural powers, these witchdoctors prepare charms that they believe will
help propel teams to victory and confuse opponents.

There are a number of ways that football charms can be
administered. Palm oil, popularly known in Cameroon as manyanga, could be
rubbed on the ankles or kola nuts, another charm, could be given to players to
eat. In other cases, the players may be
asked to jump over a bonfire before the game. Or players may be nicked in the
ankles with a razor blade and black powder rubbed into the wounds. Then they
would be given rules such as not shaking hands with anybody before the encounter
or entering the field by walking backwards.
In the past even more extreme practices were undertaken in the name of
football success. It was very common to
hear that players of a team had gone camping in a graveyard the night before an
important game.

The objective was to harness some invisible force from the
departed. The juju man would assure the players not to panic if they heard a
noise or felt a touch in the dark as this could be the "ghost"
filling their boots with supernatural powers.
While many believe that such witchcraft is dying out, the Menchum Voice
newspaper in Cameroon
recently reported on the practice at a local football cup final. Michel Zoah, Cameroon's
minister of sport and physical education, faced questions from members of
parliament about the dismal performance of the national side, nicknamed the
Indomitable Lions, at South
Africa's World Cup in 2010.The report also recalls that during one of Cameroon's
local cup finals in 1975, the goalkeeper of Aigles of Nkongsamba came onto the
pitch with a live eagle. A traditional healer was quoted as stating ‘European players
take drugs to improve their performance. We Africans do not have access to
drugs. We've got a third eye and traditional concoctions that scientific tests
cannot detect”.It could take more than
magic charms to restore Cameroon
football to its former glory.

And perhaps it requires something of such a magic charm to make
the present Indian Team regain its lost glory

Monday, January 23, 2012

With the Indian reverses down under, I
thought of following my own State’s fortune in the premier domestic tournament –
the Ranji Trophy.

TN had many favourable factors – it has a
mature leader; many star performers, Mukund, Vijay, Badri, Dinesh Karthik,
Balaji have all played for the Nation and they were playing at their home turf
against an opponents where the notable names were Akash Chopra and Kanitkar –
an easy prey of an opposition one thought and a golden opportunity to repeat
what was achieved way back in 1987-88 by S. Vasudevan.

Who calls India poor country ? There are waiting crowds at Gold shops;
people keep buying at malls; airports are busy, share market sees huge volumes
of trade - the prize money for the Ranji
Elite winner is a whopping 2 crore – even the losing Semi finalists get 50
lakhs each !!

The whole of the first day, TN could not
dislodge a single batsman as Akash Chopra and little known Vineet Saxena
grounded to dust – the second day was marginally better – two wickets fell as
Rajasthan moved ahead at snail’s pace. Vineet
Saxena remained unconquered for the second successive day as he completed his double ton. People
started criticizing the approach of Rajasthan telling that their batting lacked
stroke play and positivity and that they were hell bent upon simple staying on
an unthreatening dead pitch. It was only
patience as only 15 runs were scored in the first hour. Eventually they were all out for 621.

It appears that the rule for the Ranji
finals is that it the team’s first innings is incomplete, the winner will be
decided on the run rate, provided the team batting second had played at least
30 overs – this seemed probable at least in the minds of Tamil Nadu
supporters.

Incidentally, the 1981-82 final between Delhi and Karnataka, played in Delhi, was extended to the sixth day, to
enable the hosts to gain a first-innings lead.
GR Viswanath, the Karnataka captain, elected to bat, a decision that
proved appropriate as the visitors went on to amass 705. In reply Delhi could not gain the
lead even at the end of the final day's play. But in an unprecedented move,
play was extended to the sixth day, and a little before tea, Delhi, under Mohinder Amarnath, scored 707
for 8. By virtue of their first-innings lead, Delhi emerged winners on March 29, 1982, the
extra day.

All that went up as things were totally
different when it was TN’s turn to bat. On
the same day, when Rajasthan scored that massive score, TN lost 3 wickets –
those 3 who had played for India
in recent past. Dinesh Karthik offered
some resistance but his century was not good enough as the visitors gained a
massive 326 run first innings lead. Hrishikesh
Kanitkar did not enforce the follow on and the last day's play is only a
formality before the presentation ceremony begins.

Down under the National Team would battle
it out at Adelaide Oval tomorrow (Jan 24) trying to save another whitewash
threat that is looming large. It is
less than a month since we started our campaign at Melbourne on Boxing day and the circle of
ignominy is complete. Now there are
catcalls for dropping the famed middle order.
Tomorrow there will be no Dhoni but stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag
whose place itself is other questionable. The first task would be play the Test to its
full 5 days. Prasanna Wriddhiman Saha is now talked about
a quality gloveman – he has got his place in the absence of Dhoni Ashwin is certain to come back in the place of
Vinaykumar who was thrashed all over the park.
Ponting is 81 short of 13000 runs in Test cricket.

There are some reports in newspapers
attributed to Gambhir – his calling for "rank turners" to be prepared in India
for visiting teams - nothing would
prevent the host in playing to their strengths and this has happened before. But that would never be a solace for the poor
performances continuously on tours. More
then losing the present bunch has played it so badly that they are not entering
the 4th day of the match and we have faltered against the
not-so-fearsome attacks. It is only the frustration that is flowing
out. There was another statement of
Gambhir stating that he puts a lot of premium on his side doing well here —
more than even the elusive 100th international hundred of Sachin Tendulkar. This needs not be overstated at all as the
National and Team’s interest should any day be a priority that any individual
milestones and 100th 100 is in fact no milestone at all – as it
combines 2 different forms of cricket, conveniently ignoring the 3rd
format, as Sachin played only 1 in that.

It is time when Indian players make
statement only with their performance putting back their dismal displays and
vowing to play with dedication. Runs scored,
wickets taken and the result of the match would be the only indicators and no
amount of rhetoric by anyone takes us anywhere !!!

Give Me Blood! I Promise You Freedom!! – thundered this Great
man who valiantly fought the British. He made a call the
Indians stating that ‘British are engaged in a worldwide struggle and in
the course of

this struggle they have suffered defeat after defeat
on so many fronts. The enemy having been thus considerably weakened, our fight
for liberty has become very much easier than it was five years ago. Such a rare
and Godgiven opportunity comes once in a century. That is why we have sworn to
fully utilise this opportunity for liberating our motherland from the British
yoke.’ - thus started his speech at the rally of Indians in Burma,
July 4, 1944.

Today after 63 years
ofIndependencethe politicians
have changed totally – they are extraordinary now.. there are no rules that
apply to them. The society has changed too. A common man
apprehended by police for a petty crime suffers and his family is looked down
but the same Society no longer treats as outcasts those who have harmed
the society or its constituent people. They are not ostracized, they do
not live with any stigma but instead only consolidate their position in their
parties and become stronger. Are the political parties alone to be blamed
for this conjecture ? Can we take a vow in life that we will never have
any links nor show any respect to the corrupt politicians ? There is
clamour within the party to assign bigger roles for those who come out prison
on bail ! – is jail record a badge of honour ? It is reported that
the prime accused in Commonwealth Games scandal who was released on bail has
been offered take back his job as the chief of the Indian Olympic Association.

This is a Nation where
thousands of people suffered brutally at the hands of British.
There was the Jalianwalabagh. There were hundreds of other
incidents too – one such involved the man who was born at Chennimalai.
Kumaraswamy Mudaliar was hardly 28 when he led a march against the colonial
Govt on 11thJan
1932. He died of injuries of police assault – for he was carrying the
Indian Nationalists flag which had been banned by the British – he is better
known as Tirupur Kumaran and Kodi Katha Kumaran.

Those who participated
in such moments and who were arrested incarcerated underwent untold
sufferings…. These days there are reports of everything from cell phone
to choice delicacies available inside the prison and yet these unscrupulous
elements get more recognition in a civil society.

The ones in the first
para were the famous words of one of the greatest sons of Mahan
Bharat - Subhas Chandra Bose– whose birth
anniversary falls today.

Bose was elected
president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms but
resigned from the post following ideological conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi.
Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of nonviolence would never be
sufficient to secureIndia's
independence, and advocated violent resistance. Interestingly, he was
conferred with Bharat Ratna but the award was subsequently withdrawn.The
original statutes of January 1954 did not make allowance for posthumous
awards though this provision was added in the January 1955 statute.
Subsequently, there have been ten posthumous awards, including the award to
Subhash Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal
technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn. It was withdrawn in
response to a Supreme Court of India directive following a Public Interest
Litigation filed in the Court against the “posthumous” nature of the award. The
Award Committee could not give conclusive evidence of Bose’s death and thus it
invalidated the “posthumous” award.

Give Me Blood! I Promise You Freedom!!
The British are engaged in a worldwide struggle and in the course of this
struggle they have suffered defeat after defeat on so many fronts. The enemy
having been thus considerably weakened, our fight for liberty has become very
much easier than it was five years ago. Such a rare and God-given opportunity
comes once in a century. That is why we have sworn to fully utilise this
opportunity for liberating our motherland from the British yoke. The
first phase of our campaign is over. Our victorious troops, fighting side by
side with Nipponese troops, have pushed back the enemy and are now fighting
bravely on the sacred soil of our dear motherland.

Gird
up your loins for the task that now lies ahead. I had asked you for men, money
and materials. I have got them in generous measure. Now I demand more of you.
Men, money and materials cannot by themselves bring victory or freedom. We must
have the motive-power that will inspire us to brave deeds and heroic exploits.

It
will be a fatal mistake for you to wish to live and seeIndiafree simply
because victory is now within reach. No one here should have the desire to live
to enjoy freedom. A long fight is still in front of us. We should have
but one desire today- the desire to die so thatIndiamay live- the
desire to face a martyr's death, so that the path to freedom may be paved with
the martyr's blood.

Friend's!
my comrades in the War of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above
all. I demand of you blood. It is blood alone that can avenge the blood that
the enemy has spilt. It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom. Give
me blood and I promise you freedom.

Excerpts of speech addressed at a rally of Indians inBurma,
July 4, 1944. There are very famous words of one of the greatest sons of
MAHA BHARAT. Yes, it is Subhas Chandra Bose – whose birth anniversary falls
today.Subhas Chandra Bose, (Bengali:সুভাষচন্দ্রবসু, (January 23, 1897 – presumably August 18, 1945 [although
this is disputed], very popularly known as Netaji (lit. "Respected
Leader"), was one of the most prominent and highly respected leaders of
the Indian Independence Movement against the British Raj.

Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress
for two consecutive terms but resigned from the post following ideological
conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi. Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of
non-violence would never be sufficient to secureIndia's
independence, and advocated violent resistance. He established a separate
political party, the All India Forward Bloc and continued to call for the full
and immediate independence ofIndiafrom British
rule. He was imprisoned by the British authorities eleven times.

His stance did
not change with the outbreak of the second world war, which he saw as an
opportunity to take advantage of British weakness. At the outset of the war, he
fledIndiaand travelled to the
Soviet Union,GermanyandJapanseeking an alliance
with the aim of attacking the British inIndia.
With Japanese assistance he re-organised and later led the Indian National
Army, formed from Indian prisoners-of-war and plantation workers fromMalaya,Singaporeand other parts ofSoutheast
Asia, against British forces. With Japanese monetary,
political, diplomatic and military assistance, he formed the Azad Hind
Government in exile, regrouped and led the Indian National Army to battle
against the allies in Imphal & Burma during the World War II

His
political views and the alliances he made with Nazi and other militarist
regimes opposed to the British Empire have been the cause of arguments among
historians and politicians, with some accusing him of Fascist sympathies and of
Quislingist actions, while most others in India largely sympathetic towards his
inculcation of realpolitik as a manifesto that guided his social and political
choices. He is believed to have died on 18 August 1945 in a plane crash over Taiwan.
However, contradictory evidence exists regarding his death in the accident.

Interestingly,
do you know that he was conferred with Bharat Ratna but the award was subsequently
withdrawn. Unlike knights, holders of the Bharat
Ratna carry no special title nor any other honorifics, but they do have a place
in the Indian order of precedence. The award was established by the first
President of India, Rajendra Prasad, on January 2, 1954. The honour has been
awarded to forty persons, a list which includes two non-Indians and a
naturalized Indian citizen.

The
order was established by Dr Rajendra Prasad, President of India, on January 2,
1954. The original statutes of January 1954 did not make allowance for
posthumous awards though this provision was added in the January 1955 statute.
Subsequently, there have been ten posthumous awards, including the award to
Subhash Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality,
the only case of an award being withdrawn. It was withdrawn in response to a
Supreme Court of India
directive following a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Court against the
“posthumous” nature of the award. The Award Committee could not give conclusive
evidence of Bose’s death and thus it invalidated the “posthumous” award.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Tamilnadu had the home advantage and had senior players
– a win was almost on the cards. When Rajasthan
played, they played too slowly at snail’s pace frustrating everyone, mostly the
spectators – it seemed they were intent on making the match dead and the pitch appeared
lifeless.

Rajasthan has a relatively inexperienced and ordinary
bowling attack. Rituraj Rajeev Singh has
played 3 matches but has taken 22 wickets and his two today virtually sealed
Tamilnadu’s fate. On the same dead
track where Rajasthan grounded TN to dust, TN batsmen were all at sea to Pankaj
and Rajeev Singh.

In the post-tea session, Murali Vijay and Abhinav
Mukund both of whom have played for India opened and the first over of Pankaj
Singh was eventless. In the second
Rituraj struck with a good length delivery trapping Mukund for a duck. In the 7th over Pankaj Singh had
S Badrinath for 6. In the 10th
Murali Vijay also walked back caught behind of RR Singh again.

Now at 65 for 3, the result is almost certain. Rajasthan have retained the Ranji Trophy this
year………………. Hats Off to an Ordinary team
who believed in themselves.

Not many would be
following the present finals of Ranji Trophy between Tamilnadu and Rajasthan
played at Chepauk, which has become a great disadvertisement for cricket. Played to empty stands, even when there is no
entry fee – the premier tournament has driven people away. This is no statement on the dull drudgery of
Rajasthan inching way to 404 in 180 overs.
Nothing wrong with them – simply they want to ensure that they do not
lose and if Tamilnadu is not capable of taking more than 2 wickets, they cannot
be blamed. But the blame would lie
squarely on the Board, the persons incharge of Cricket administration at
Various club levels, ex-players involved with the team, the managers and host
of other officials – who are all making money bleeding the game to its
desperation.

Vineet Saxena and Akash Chopra cross

Pic courtesy : www.cricinfo.com

Ranji is the Premier
annual tournament having 15 teams in the Elite division and 12 teams in plate
division. Elites are divided into 2
groups and matches are played on round robin league. The top 3 teams qualify for knock out. Plate is 2 group of 6 teams each. 6 teams from Elite and 2 teams from Plate
play the Knock out leading to the Finals.
Only the Finals is 5 day affair of 6 hours of play each day. Teams consists of 15 Players accompanied by a Physio and
Trainer apart from the Coach and Manager

And do you know the Prize money at stake …………. Imagine… even your wildest of the
imaginations could be way off the mark.
[source BCCI : http://www.bcci.tv/bcci/bccitv/community/guidelines/domesticrule
] Drink a cup of water. The losing Semi finalists get 50 lakhs each;
the losing Finalist gets 1 crore and the Winner takes a purse of 2 Crore
!!!!!!!!!!! The winner of Duleep trophy
get 15 lakhs; Irani 10 lakhs. Senior
Womens One day trophy winner gets 3 lakhs !!

For ages, it is becoming
an unwritten rule that Toss is the most vital.
You win the toss, bat first without hesitation, amass runs mostly by
staying put, wear down the opponent and mostly win by First innings lead. My
memory takes back to the finals in 1981/82
at Delhi in March 1982 – a 5 day match.
Karnataka played first. Roger
Michael H Binny scored 115; Brijesh Patel 124, stylish Sudhakar Rao 71, Kirmani
116, Ranjit Kanwilkar 116 – as they were all out after 255 overs making 705.

Ranjit Kanwilkar, an all-rounder was only 21 and was considered
to be an exciting prospect. Years
later he was among the many dead in an
accident when coaches fell into lake Ashtamudi Kayal in July 1988. Island Express was running between
Bangalore and Kanyakumari. Delhi bowling
was in the hands of Madanlal, Mohinder Amarnath, Maninder (who went for 204 runs), Shukla and
Kirti Azad. Chasing 706 is certainly daunting though Delhi had
other plans. Raman Lamba scored 36,
Gursharan Singh made 101; Surinder Amarnath fell cheaply. Kirti Azad,
Surinder Khanna, Madanlal all made useful runs – Mohinder was rock
steady and made 185. At one stage Delhi
were 589 for 8 - 116 short………. Shulka made an unbeaten 69 and Rajesh Peter
made 67 in an unbroken stand as Delhi
took the lead. Hapless Binny, Khanvilkar, Vijaykrishna, Raghuram
Bhat all went for 100 + As there was no
rule for unfinished match, the match went into the sixth day enabling the hosts
to gain first innings lead and mercifully stopped at that.

At Chepauk at end of day
2, Vineet Saxena remained unconquered for the second successive day as he
notched his career-best score and became the 21st batsman to score a
double-century in a Ranji Trophy final, breaking the drought after fourteen
years. There has been some criticism on
the Team on their 2+ per over run rate but it was patience which subdued
performance on these 2 days. Chopra
could not complete his century and only 15 runs were scored in the first hour. TN cannot criticize the opposition but only
blame themselves for the poor bowling, absence of any strategy and surrendering
meekly.

Understand that the Rules
state that in the event of incomplete
first innings, the winner will be decided on the run rate, provided the team
batting second plays at least 30 overs.

As I post this now,
Rajasthan were finally all out for 621
with J Kaushik (3), Aushik Srinivas (4), Sunny Gupta (3) taking
wickets. Aushik Srinivas gave 192 in 85
overs while Balaji and Yo Mahesh went wicketless. Now what will Tamilnadu do and what will be
their game plan ?